Soft US jobs figures keep a lid on markets

A family shelters from the rain in front of an electronic stock indicator in Tokyo Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Asian stock markets mostly rose Wednesday, boosted by more evidence the U.S. economic recovery is gaining traction. Japan's Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo jumped 1.7 percent to 12,207.46 as a fall in the yen enticed investors back into export shares. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

LONDON (AP) -- Soft U.S. jobs figures kept a lid on stocks Wednesday ahead of key government data later in the week. Japanese stocks, however, outperformed all others as investors anticipated aggressive policy action from the Bank of Japan.

Investor sentiment, which was already fairly flat following a solid trading session on Tuesday, did not get any uplift from the monthly jobs report from private payrolls firm ADP. It found that private employers added 158,000 jobs in March, way down on February's gain of 237,000 and expectations for a rise of about 200,000.

The ADP survey comes ahead of Friday's official nonfarm payrolls figures for March, an indicator that often sets the market tone for a week or two. This time the payrolls figures could have an even bigger bearing as investors try and work out when the Federal Reserve will start withdrawing its economic stimulus.

"Not that this is a good measure of the actual payroll report but the ADP will keep the bulls from boosting their payroll estimates between now and Friday," said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.4 percent at 6,464 while Germany's DAX fell 0.1 percent to 7,940. The CAC-40 in France was 0.3 percent lower at 3,796.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.1 percent at 14,676 while the broader S&P 500 index rose the same rate to 1,571.

Trading was pretty lackluster in other financial markets. The euro was up 0.1 percent at $1.2831 while the dollar fell 0.2 percent to 93.18 yen.

Earlier, Japan was in focus as the country's central bank started its first policy meeting under a new governor committed to aggressive monetary action to end years of economic malaise. There are expectations that the bank will announce a big monetary stimulus at the end of its meeting on Thursday.

Bank of Japan chief Haruhiko Kuroda has vowed to do whatever it takes to get Japan out of its debilitating deflation. Kuroda, who assumed his post March 19, has pledged to cooperate with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's program of big government spending, monetary easing and economic reforms aimed at improving Japan's competitiveness.

Optimism about the meeting's outcome sent the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo soaring 3 percent to close at 12,362.20.

"The Nikkei is the standout, jumping 3 percent as the Bank of Japan's two-day monetary policy meeting kicked off, and the market is anticipating some bold stimulative action under new governor Kuroda," said Robert Kavcic, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.

The Bank of Japan is not the only central bank announcing policy decisions Thursday. However, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are not expected to alter policy.